The Moon in the Wood
By Madison Julius Cawein
Annotations by Mary Miller/KK
I.
From hill and hollow, side by side,
The shadows came, like dreams, to sit
And watch, mysterious, sunset-eyed,
The wool-winged moths and bats aflit,
And the lone owl that cried and cried.
And then the forest rang a gong,
Hoarse, toadlike; and from out the gate
Of darkness came a sound of song,
As of a gnome that called his mate,
Who answered in his own strange tongue.
And all the forest leaned to hear,
And saw, from forth the entangling trees,
A naked spirit drawing near,
A glimmering presence, whom the breeze
Kept whispering, “Forward! Have no fear.”
II.
The woodland, seeming at a loss,
Afraid to breathe, or make a sound,
Poured, where her silvery feet should cross,
A dripping pathway on the ground,
And hedged it in with ferns and moss.
And then the silence sharply shook
A cricket tambourine; and Night
From out her musky bosom took
A whippoorwill flute, and, lost to sight
Sat piping to a wildwood brook.
Until from out the shadows came
A furtive foot, a gleam, a glow;
And with a lamp of crystal flame
The spirit stole, as white as snow,
And put the firmament to shame.
III.
Then up and down vague movements went,
As if the faeries sought an herb;
And here and there a bush was bent,
A wildflower raised: the wood-pool’s curb
Was circled with a scarf of scent.
And deep within her house of weeds
Old Mystery hung a glowworm lamp,
And decked her hair with firefly beads,
And sate herself ‘mid dew and damp,
And crooned a love-song to the reeds.
Then through the gates of solitude,
Where Witchery her shuttle plied,
The Spirit entered, white and nude
And where she went, on every side,
Dreams followed through the solitude.
CAWEIN, MADISON JULIUS. “THE MOON IN THE WOOD“, IN MINIONS OF THE MOON, 25-26. STEWART & KIDD COMPANY, 1913.
Contexts
“The Moon in the Wood” was included in Cawein’s collection of poems for children Minions of the Moon, A Little Book of Song and Story, published in 1913, was inscribed with the words “To All Children, big and little, who have ever believed or still believe in faeries, I dedicate this little book, that attempts to set forth in wolds all that such a belief may mean to the soul of man.”
Cawein’s love of nature and otherworldly spirits came to him early; his father was an herbalist who made patent medicines, and his mother was interested in spiritualism. His poems reflect his love of nature and his fascination with the spiritual creatures depicted by fairies and elves.
Definitions from the Oxford English Dictionary:
aflit: A light movement, as of a bird’s wing; a flutter; a light touch.
hollow: An area that is lower than the surface around it, especially on the ground.
sate: To fill or satisfy to the full with food, nourishment, etc.; to indulge or gratify fully with the satisfaction of an appetite or desire.
Resources for Further Study
- The Story of a Poet: Madison Cawein includes biographical information about the poet as well as critical reviews and anecdotes from contemporaries.
- Read all the poems in Minions of the Moon.
- The Fairy Mythology by Thomas Kneightley, originally published in 1828, is a source for understanding the context for many of Cawein’s poems.
- Spiritualism is a movement based on the belief that departed souls can interact with the living. The Fox sisters from Hydesville, New York, sparked the modern Spiritualist movement in 1848, with one sister, Maggie, eventually confessing that their performances were a farce.
Contemporary Connections
Fairies are messengers from another world with powers beyond that of any mortal human being. The enormous popularity of children’s books based on magic, such as the Harry Potter series and remakes of fairy tales in popular films such as Frozen and Beauty and the Beast demonstrate that otherworldly beings still appeal to many people, perhaps especially children.
